Vic's Pickled Beets

Ingredients

  Amount  Measure       Ingredient
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
  ~40      med           beets

For Each Batch of Brine (Two or More of Them)					
   3      cups          vinegar
   2 1/4  cups          sugar
   3      tbsp          pickling salt
   9      whole         cloves
   3      cups          of beet cooking liquid

Cooking:

Cut leaves from beets and scrub. In a large canning kettle (the type that holds 7 quart jars) cook beets until fork tender (about 25-40 minutes). Remove with slotted spoon when done. Reserve cooking liquid. Slip or rub skins from beets under cold water. Cut top and tip from beets and cut away any blemishes. Quarter or slice beets.

Brine

For Each of Two or more Batchs of BRINE:

(Make brine until all beets are processed).

Make sweet brine by bringing remaining ingredients and 3 cups of the cooking liquid to a boil in another large stainless steel pot or dutch oven (~13" across by 7" deep). Add as many of the beets as can still fit in the pot and be covered with boiling liquid (this should be about 1/2 of them). Bring mixture to a boil and keep it there for 5 minutes stiring constantly.

Canning & Sterilizing: